According to the older version of our current Julian calendar (named for Julius Caesar), Sir Isaac Newton was supposedly born on January 4, 1643. Were we to restructure his birth to fit our modern calendar, he was actually born on Christmas Day in 1642.
On Christmas Day in 1776, General George Washington led his inexperienced army across the Delaware River in freezing temperatures and during a winter storm. They marched all day in the snow toward Trenton, New Jersey, where a contingent of British troops bolstered by Hessian mercenaries were celebrating the holiday. They reached their enemy early the next morning, on December 26, where the Battle of Trenton commenced. Washington definitely had the edge, as the Brits and their hired compatriots were exhausted and suffering from hangovers from their festivities on the previous day. Washington and his troops gained a victory, without suffering a single death in the Continental Army. Their win was pivotal, and did much to bolster morale for the war that was only beginning.
The Christmas season of 1777 was much worse for the Americans in their Revolution, as they prepared their winter camp at Valley Forge, 17 miles from Philadelphia, in mid-December. Throughout the holiday season the men suffered from severe cold, disease, and near starvation. While the British troops enjoyed the holiday in relative comfort in Philadelphia, the Continental army suffered. About two thousand men died, mostly from disease, by the middle of January. Washington used their time in winter camp to drill and prepare as a fighting force. The survivors emerged in the spring of 1778 toughened and more resolute.
Christmas 1799 was not only within days before a new century would dawn, it was also a somber holiday, as George Washington, the leader of the aforementioned Continental Army and the nation’s first President, had died on December 14. Four days later, a week before Christmas, he was buried at his estate in Mount Vernon.
On Christmas Eve morning in 1818, there was a problem with the organ at the St. Nikolaus church in the hamlet of Oberndorf, Austria. The continual humidity from the nearby river had rusted the pipes, and mice had eaten through the bellows. With the thought of no Christmas music for the evening service, Father Joseph Mohr went to his office and penned a few lines for a hymn that was simple enough for accompaniment by guitar. His organist, Franz Gruber, was proficient also with that instrument. He took the poem to Gruber, asked him to compose a melody, and the newly created hymn, Silent Night, was performed by the choir that night. It remains one of the world’s most beloved, though it was composed quickly, out of necessity, on Christmas, for Christmas.
On December 25, 1821, Clara Barton was born in North Oxford, Massachusetts.
On Christmas Eve in 1822, New York resident Clement C. Moore wrote the poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (which we know as The Night Before Christmas) and read it to entertain his children for the holidays. By 1837, it had been published.
The first train service in the United States began on Christmas Day in 1830 – just in time to allow get togethers for those who otherwise lived a bit too far away.
In 1843, author Charles Dickens was out of ideas for a novel. After having enjoyed immense fame for years, he was constantly worried about coming up with new ideas for his books, and for providing for his large family. He embarked upon an idea for a ghost story for the holidays, and A Christmas Carol was born. He grew to love his story and looked forward to working on it each day, even into the evenings. The story was published on December 17, 1843 and became an immediate hit. The following year, Dickens drafted a shortened version to perform for audiences – which provided the groundwork for the annual stage play that is still popular.
Queen Victoria, the monarch of Great Britain, was married to the German born Prince Albert. He brought with him many traditions of his home country, which Victoria adopted. They placed a Christmas tree in the palace, gave gifts to their children, and sent Christmas cards to distant friends and family members. Until that time, the British – and Americans – had more pared commemorations of the holiday. In fact, some U.S. citizens of varied religions (like Quakers and Presbyterians) thought the day was a pagan holiday and would not celebrate it at all. With the Victorian influence, Americans began embracing the holiday even more.
Franklin Pierce, the 14th U.S. President, was the first Commander-in-Chief to have a Christmas tree decorated in the White House (then called the Executive Mansion) in 1854.
During the Civil War, between the Christmases of 1861 through 1864, with so many fathers, sons, and kinsmen in the field and unable to return home for the holidays, families started sending gifts to their loved ones in packages. It was the beginning of the continued rush for the post office and other businesses who provide mailings during the holiday season.
In 1862, in the midst of the dark days of Civil War, artist Thomas Nast drew a rendition of Santa Claus for the magazine Harper’s Weekly. His version of the jolly, pudgy fellow in the red suit has continued to modern times.
In 1885, with the recent invention of the electric light, President Grover Cleveland (the 22nd and 24th Commander-in-Chief) was the first to decorate the White House tree with electric Christmas lights.
On Christmas Day, 1899, actor Humphrey Bogart was born in New York City.
During the Christmas season of 1903, electric Christmas lights were finally offered for sale to the public. Since they were expensive, most people did not use them much. By the 1940s, however, Christmas lights, inside and out, were here to stay.
On Christmas Day in 1914, Europe was in the beginning of its first World War. While the United States was spared for a few years, the British, French, Russian and German armies had already engaged in battle. On Christmas Day, 1914, a truce was declared for 24 hours. Across the battlements, the armies celebrated the day. The singing of carols could be heard across the former fields of fire and enemies who encountered each other wished one another a happy Christmas. On the following day, the war continued.
On Christmas Day, 1924, a young Hirohito was proclaimed the 124th emperor of Japan.
Seventeen years later, on December 25, 1941, Hong Kong surrendered to invading Japanese forces. The still callow emperor had listened to his advisors to enlarge their colonization while Europe was busy fighting Hitler. In the United States, the anger over Pearl Harbor had galvanized the citizenry, and young men and women were eager to sign up to fight.
On December 25, 1946, comedian W.C. Fields, who made a living out of despising children and all things familial (it was just an act, though) died in Pasadena, California at age 66. Another who exited the world on a previous Christmas Day, the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, died in 1635.
On Christmas Eve in 1968 the astronauts of Apollo 8, the first manned mission to orbit the moon, sent a television broadcast as they circled the moon.
On Boxing Day, the day after Christmas in 2004, a terrible tsunami in the Indian Ocean, sparked by an earthquake, hit the islands and beachfront areas of Southwest Asia, killing over a quarter of a million people. The news came to the United States on Christmas Day, as we were on the other side of the international dateline. Because of the tragedy, tsunami warnings have been installed for the area.
Through difficult times and good times, Christmas seems to be, in many cases, an historic day.
Sources: “The Story of Silent Night”, Reader’s Digest, December 1988. Grun, Bernard. The Timetables of History. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991. Oates, Stephen B. A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War. New York: The Free Press, 1994. Whitney, David C. & Robin Vaughn Whitney. The American Presidents. New York: Doubleday Books, 1993.
The Eisenhowers' Gettysburg Home
(Author photo)
Ike’s two terms as President were successful, and Mamie was a thoughtful and gracious First Lady – the last to have been born in the 19th century. She was completely apolitical. She liked Bess Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt, and often visited them. When the Communist hearings convened by Senator Eugene McCarthy, she disliked what the senator was doing, and was offended that he called Lucille Ball a communist. She deliberately invited the cast of I Love Lucy
to the White House in protest of McCarthy. She and Ike spent their Christmases in the White House in order to allow their Secret Service detail have the day with their families. In 1954, she donated her inaugural gown to the First Ladies exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of History. She often visited the museum, and took the Queen Mother, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, to the exhibit when the Royal family visited.16
Just as Mamie had feared, Ike’s health took a bad turn in the fall of 1955. Suffering a near fatal heart attack, Mamie’s quick attention saved the President’s life. The couple spent many months at their Gettysburg farm for his recuperation. Before recovering, Ike also suffered a stroke. Mamie was relieved when, by the winter of 1960, they would be leaving Washington and could finally retire to their Gettysburg farm. Before the year ended, however, Mamie received more sad news; her mother, Elvira, died after a long illness.17
It was a brutally cold day in January 1961 when the Eisenhowers drove to Gettysburg. The town came out in the snow to welcome them. For the rest of his life, Ike divided his time between Gettysburg and Palm Springs. Mamie, too, often came into town to show her support for a new business venture – she donated a dress, for example, when the National Apple Museum opened in Biglerville – or to attend church or an event. Mostly, the couple enjoyed their days and evenings at home, sometimes entertaining friends with a game of bridge, or welcoming their grandchildren for the holidays.18
When Ike suffered yet another near fatal heart attack in early August 1968, he was taken to Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He remained there, in an apartment, under a doctor’s care, until he died on March 28, 1969.
Mamie took an adjoining room, and stayed with her husband whenever the doctor allowed it. She deliberately kept alarming news from him, like the Vietnam War, or the assassination of Robert Kennedy. She played records from their favorite musicals, and spoke to him of happier events. Always ready to be by his side, she did not sleep well during those last weeks. When he died, she was devastated. While it had been expected, he was still the man she had always loved, and still she had a decade to live without him.19
In her final years, Mamie remained on the farm, often reclusive except for the company of John and his family or close friends. She did, however, appear on various occasions to help the town of Gettysburg and to commemorate Ike’s birthday and the onset of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society. She regularly attended the Gettysburg Presbyterian Church. “Truly
,” one reverend remembered, “she was a good neighbor.” 20
On the day after Icky’s birthday, September 25, 1979, 82-year-old Mamie suffered a debilitating stroke and was rushed to Walter Reed Medical Center. Unable to talk clearly, she still relished visitors. When the family, as well as her good friends, the Moaneys, visited her that day, she declared that “ I am going to die tomorrow.” John Eisenhower was the last person to see her that day, her final Halloween. In the early hours of November 1, she passed away in her sleep. She was buried by Ike and their son Icky in the Eisenhower Chapel in Abilene, Kansas.21
“Her legacy goes far beyond being Ike’s wife,” said her granddaughter Susan. “More than any woman I have ever met, Mamie Eisenhower knew who she was. The thread of loyalty and courage was finely woven into the fabric of her personality.”22
It would have taken a strong woman to keep Dwight D. Eisenhower grounded and content. And Mamie did just that.
She remains one of the nation’s most admired First Ladies – not because of the man she married, but because she was his better half. While she definitely put Ike and their family first, she certainly held her own. She lived a life of loyalty, to her husband and family, and to her country and to its people.
With her airy grace and cheerful attitude, we also saw the sauciness that her husband had noticed the moment he met her. She was unique.
For some people there is no need for a surname. She is one of them. She was just Mamie, and Gettysburg will always be proud to be associated with that name.
Sources: Angelo, Bonnie. First Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents . New York: HarperCollins, 2000. Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. First Ladies: The Saga of the President’s Wives and Their Power . New York: William Morrow, 1990. Eisenhower, David with Julie Nixon Eisenhower. Going Home to Glory . New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010. Eisenhower, Dwight D. At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends . National Park Service: Eastern Acorn Press, 1981 (reprint, first published in 1967). Eisenhower, Dwight D. Crusade in Europe . New York: Doubleday & Company, 1948. Eisenhower, Susan. Mrs. Ike: Portrait of a Marriage . Sterling, VA: Capital Books, 1996. The Gettysburg Times, “Our Neighbor”, Nov. 16, 1979. The Gettysburg Times, “Susan Eisenhower Tells of Grandmother”, Nov. 20, 1979. The Gettysburg Times, “Smithsonian Opens Tribute to Mamie”, Dec. 17, 1979. The Indianapolis Star, Nov. 2, 1979. The Orlando Sentinel, Nov. 2, 1979.
Ike's Funeral, 1969. Mamie is seen center right.
(U.S. Army photo)
1. Anthony, p. 326. Eisenhower, Susan, pp. 17-18.
2. Angelo, p. 101. Eisenhower, Dwight D. At Ease , p. 113.
3. Eisenhower, Dwight D. At Ease , pp. 117, 123.
4. The Indianapolis Star, Nov. 2, 1979.
5. The Orlando Sentinel, Nov. 2, 1979.
6. Eisenhower, Dwight D. At Ease , p. 181.
7. Ibid.
8. Anthony, p. 565.
9. Eisenhower, Dwight D. Crusade , pp. 5, 13.
10. Anthony, p. 597. Eisenhower, Susan, p. 337.
11. Eisenhower, Susan, pp. 228-229. In late 1944 into January 1945, Ike came to Washington for a secret meeting with the White House. He also saw Mamie, in secret, for a few special days.
12. Anthony, p. 534. Anne died in July 2022.
13. Eisenhower, Susan, pp. 260-261.
14. Anthony, p. 543.
15. Ibid., p. 545.
16. The Gettysburg Times, Dec. 17, 1979. Anthony, p. 560.
17. Eisenhower, Susan, p. 300.
18. Eisenhower, David, p. 3.
19. Ibid., p. 273.
20. “Our Neighbor”, The Gettysburg Times, Nov. 16, 1979.
21. Eisenhower, Susan, p. 332.
22. “Susan Eisenhower Tells of Grandmother”, The Gettysburg Times, Nov. 20, 1979.
